Let’s get this out of the way: All three cameras are very capable, great cinematic images can be shot with any of them. But they’re not quite up in that stratosphere of “so good it just doesn’t matter any more”. They each have their strengths & weaknesses.

I know there are a lot more cameras I could’ve chosen from. I chose these because (i) Canon has consistently been a leader in DSLR video quality, so I felt they should be represented, (ii) mirrorless is the way of the future for video, so I wanted the others to be mirrorless, (iii) these all have larger chips that ‘traditional’ video cameras (the handycam you’d get at Best Buy made specifically for video) which gives us better light sensitivity, shallower depth-of-field, and that cinematic look that viewers of my show are concerned with.

Best Camera for Under $1000 — WOMP

Description

What’s the best camera for shooting video under $1,000? And who’s the better dancer: Long or Kevin?

In Weapons of Mass Production we’ve looked at the super-cheap strategy of shooting your movies with your phone, and decided that’s pretty miserable. But we can’t all run out and buy a high-end movie camera,so what’s the best camera in that sweet spot in-between? These cameras all run under $1,000 including the tested lenses, and while they’re all from the stills line, they have cinematic video capabilities. So we decided to run them through the gauntlet to figure out which one will give the best quality motion pictures.

Testing out 3 (and a half) cameras like this is pretty complex, so if you’re looking to buy one, definitely read the full write-up at: www.crisislab.com to get all the detailed info that couldn’t make it into the video.

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Nice video guys! I like the T4i, but THE only reason I wouldn't buy it is because it doesn't offer the manual Kelvin Temp white set that the Canon 60D does offer. For me, that's a huge feature to able to dial in any Kelvin Temp value.